


Todd had a Job

by RobCollins



Category: N/A - Fandom
Genre: Gen, Point of View
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-16
Updated: 2015-03-16
Packaged: 2018-03-18 04:12:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 12,060
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3555599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RobCollins/pseuds/RobCollins
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>
  <i>This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.</i>
</p>
        </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The Friday night train was about to arrive like it usually does at nine o'clock, I thought the train was late as the clock just turned one second passed nine... sure, it was only one second, but they should know better than that. Although the train was about to arrive, I couldn't complain due to the fact that the weather was nasty from yesterday's snow storm. You're probably wondering what the reason is as to why I'm here waiting for the train - it's because I've just come out of the hospital from a slight head injury caused by a weapon, which had a big wooden handle and a piece of metal on the end of it. Oh, wai-... that's right, it was a shovel. The details are very blurry to me, so let's just agree that I attacked myself in sheer excitement.

I've already talked this much and you still don't know who I am, quite fascinating how one thing can lead to the next, my name is Todd Crombie. I think I'm employed, I can't quite tell because my job always ends up in my chief yelling at me - while I look unhappy. I'm currently standing alone in the middle of nowhere - freezing, I have no hat and my long beige jacket isn't enough to keep me warm. I wish I had cigarettes with me, unfortunately I forgot them on my way here, my doctor keeps telling me to stop smoking as it could eventually hurt my health. Who does he think he is? My doctor?

 

The train finally arrives and I make my escape from this deserted place, I'm concerned for the twitching I've recently adopted, the train conductor could be suspicious of me if I continue on like this... am I in need of cigarettes? Have the cigarettes actually caused a problem with my health? Did the cigarettes make me visualize myself in a hospital while surgeons perform some sort of mysterious yet alluring treatments on me without permission even though I had previously signed a contract that informs me that I am not allowed to sue under the agreement of the negotiation beforehand and now they have surgically removed parts of my brain while replacing bits of machinery inside it causing me to do their dirty work by taking over the world until they turn evil and all of this leads to my eventual death? I'm so nervous right now, I should probably have a cigarette.

As I sit at my work desk, I notice the chief go into his office for his usual weekly meeting. The paperwork needs doing, so I should better do this before he gets mad. Who am I, you ask? Why are you asking? I already told you I was Todd Crombie, jeez. Anyway, I'm a police officer, my code name is Crombles. I've always thought it was a bit odd that that was given to me, especially the part where my colleagues laughed and beat me up. I don't know, maybe it was to indicate that I was welcomed with open arms. That's what I was _told_ , after all.

The paperwork doesn't look very interesting today, until this very moment, right now, in front of my eyes, this very moment... right now... mm. I noticed there was an investigation open - why hasn't anyone taken this one yet? A maniac with a shotgun in each hand who occasionally threatens innocent citizens doesn't sound so bad, right? I see their point. I look at the next page, and this next one is definitely for me.

 

A crime is happening right now, near where I live! Actually, the address looks familiar, and when I look at the provided photo, the building looks exactly the same to the one where I'm currently living... for some reason, this doesn't look too good for me. Fortunately, I was granted to deal with this, unfortunately I was partnered up with my son, Justin. Luckily, he has a car so I get a free ride - in your face, son! He also works in the police force, he's a commander so I'm sure he'll save my house in no time, while I sit here and listen to the radio. Turns out, my house was being burgled and I lost my television, no biggie, who needs TV when you have a computer? In case you were wondering more about Justin, come back later, it's been a long day saving my house and all.

It's a new day and I feel terrible, it feels like my eyes are going to explode. If only I could remember what happened besides staring at the computer screen when the visualizations were on full screen. The phone suddenly rings and it's only five o'clock, what do they think I am? A police officer? The chief has urgent news and wants me to return to the station for an important announcement - I remember the last time there was an announcement, it ended in me being tied upside down from the ceiling while everyone declared it "Whac-A-Todd Day". That was the worst day of my life, oh well, at least Justin had fun though...

Everyone is seated around chief's desk while a few of us are forced to stand, in chief's hand appears to be tickets for a luxury holiday in Greece. Finally, this is my chance to redeem myself as I cheer to myself with happiness - how we win the tickets is the problem. He expects us to compete in an online multiplayer card game, all of this is fine to be honest, but aren't we supposed to be doing police stuff? It doesn't matter, I'm sure the criminals will teach themselves a lesson for what they do. Finally, time to win those tickets! Justin was eliminated early on - what a loser, I'd hate to be that guy's father.


	2. Chapter 2

Winning! I turn off the TV as Charlie Sheen was distracting me. I don’t know what happened, but I ended up eliminating five people in a row - it was down to just me and Bill in the final round. It’s pretty baffling how Bill was in the final two, since he has no back-story and no character development. I annihilated him and won the entire game. Those tickets are officially mine, and I’m excited to go to Greece; then I woke up. There are only three of us left in the match; it seems that their strategy was to keep me in it while I was inactive, so they could defeat me straight away in the finals to win. It was down to just me and Bill in the final round. It’s pretty baffling how Bill was in the final two, since he has no back-story and no chara-, wait a minute... this all seems familiar somehow... Skipping ahead without any explanation, I won. Deal with it.

Everyone was jealous while I skipped around the office, waving the tickets in their faces. When I next woke up, I found myself in-between dumpsters, it looked like my shift was over as it was night-time - luckily I still had the tickets; they were stuffed up my nose. You have to admit, they are such good friends, because when I pulled the tickets out of my nose, there was dry blood on them - looks like they stopped my nosebleed with my tickets.

When I returned home, I received a very unfortunate phone call from the chief. I was being let go from the force. After spending a few minutes looking out of the window, and up into the sky at the moon with a tear in my eye, I pretended not to notice Justin outside, pointing at me with his middle fingers as he laughed - just you wait until your dad finds out about this.

 

Today was the big day. The day where I finally go on holiday to Greece! I’m not going to take anybody with me, I’m going to relax and enjoy myself. Deciding what to pack isn't that difficult, all you need are clothes and a tin of paint. Why? Because watching paint dry is better than watching hotel room TVs. I just need to remember where I left that tin of paint - at least I have a reason to go up into the attic. This is where things get weird.

There was nothing in the attic apart from my old family album, I look around as I turn the light on and there’s still nothing here. I crawl over to the family album and stare at it wondering why it’s here on its own. I finally open it to a strange page where it tells me to look closer, I looked closer and hurt my nose as I zoomed in too fast, face-first.

I opened my eyes and suddenly, the tin of paint and a mysterious small cardboard box appeared in front of me! How odd. I managed to get down from the attic with the paint and box balanced on my shoulders, I was anxious in wanting to find out what was in the box; I guess I should mention that I’m claustrophobic, I had visions of randomly getting stuck inside the tiny box. I wonder what it feels like being a small toy soldier in something like this box - I'm an escapist. Several hours pass and I’m now sitting on a chair at the airport, I can tell you’re glad that I didn’t write an entire paragraph about what I did during those several hours. Too bad, here’s a pretty accurate list of what I did:

 

What I Did During The Several Hours That Passed

\- Call for a taxi.  
\- Taunt at Bill for beating him.  
\- Cry at Bill for insulting me.  
\- Spin around.  
\- Pretend to be helicopter.  
\- Eat cereal from bowl.  
\- Try to catch reflection from spoon.  
\- Put bowl down.  
\- Drop glass of juice.  
\- Think of a cure for my thirst.  
\- Drink paint from tin.  
\- Hallucinate.  
\- Open the fridge.  
\- Think of a cure for my hunger.  
\- Eat cake.  
\- Pass out.  
\- Wake up.  
\- Get in taxi after it arrives.  
\- Cry at driver for Bill insulting me earlier.  
\- Pass out.  
\- Wake up.  
\- Wipe drool off.  
\- Arrive at airport.

 

Okay, maybe the part about the cake was a lie, but that was one hell of a ride, although I did find it odd when the taxi driver handed me his number and winked at me. We’re told we’re ready to aboard the plane; I’m a little nervous as it’s my first time boarding an airplane. Sometimes when I get nervous, I often have a flashback to something from my childhood and then back to the present, of course it’s random so it can kind of happen at any time. The kind janitor who was working overtime gave me some trivial facts about Greece, I was very grateful and thanked him - but I digress.

I was watching the television from the kitchen while I watched mummy prepare my dinner of chicken nuggets and lettuce - hey I’m on a diet, okay? On the television, there was a program on DIY which had a woman dressed in a leather coat; she claimed she "made it herself" - I guess DIY really does work. After dinner, I ran into the garage to test out this DIY theory, but I tripped and banged my elbow on the edge of a table, I’m sure it’s bruised.

These seats are actually quite comfy, so that's good, I look out of the window from my seat and the scenery is pure bliss - only a few hours from now until I’m in Greece.


	3. Chapter 3

I almost won an online multiplayer card game marathon, with the winning prize being a holiday for three in Greece for two weeks. Since I am an officer, you’d think I should be suspicious regarding this. I was feeling pretty proud of myself during the game, though, as it advertised software for my computer documents that was virus free, and it said my IP was chosen to win a lot of money. I put in my details, and immediately continued with the game. By the way, I should've probably mentioned that I'm talking about the past.

I remember going to the bathroom for something, I thought hard on what I needed to do, I decided to look out of the window. Thinking hurts, literally, because I felt a little tap on the head. Before closing my eyes, there was a desert feeling from looking at the view, the concrete had turned into sand while tumble weed flew by. I saw ponchos laying on the floor, I was even wearing a sombrero over my head... this isn't Greece. Oh, I just realised that I was in Mexico for a holiday... that wasn't even a holiday. Oh, I was kidnapped, I forgot. I should've mentioned that those guys got my IP and tracked me down. Luckily these kind folks, wearing balaclavas and wielding guns brought me over here. I don't know what would've happened if those guys with my details and IP had gotten to me, first. Though, I do feel vaguely annoyed about not getting that software. The chief sure was mad that day. How can you be mad on your day off, playing around with a load of money? It's like he was paying a ransom or something, what a baby.

 

Back to my injury story, I was watching the television from my kitchen while I was preparing my dinner of chicken nuggets and lettuce - hey I’m on a diet, okay? On the television, there was a program on DIY which had a woman dressed in a leather coat; she claimed she "made it herself" - I guess DIY really does work.

After my dinner was cooked, I went and sat down to watch the program, I changed the channel to something more worth it, I found another show but it was about unicorns and fantasy worlds, I never fantasize unless it's worth doing. I turned the television off as I finished my last chicken nugget, I went up into the attic and noticed there wasn’t anything in there, except my family album. I open it to a strange page where it tells me to look closer, I looked closer and hurt my nose as I zoomed in too fast, face-first. I opened my eyes and suddenly, everything had appeared! The old lamp, the car accessories box and... oh, my! Even my vintage 1998 glow-stick! I-, I’m a big boy now, I don’t need to get excited over it anymore.

I peaked into another box which had some magazines and junk that I stored up there from the week before. I grabbed a magazine that I quickly opened on a random page, I stared at the shooting star picture. It had a face on it. I always hated it, as I kept my eye on it, the shooting star suddenly spat in my direction. How inappropriately rude. I grabbed the shooting star and pulled it out of the magazine, I went for a headbutt, but it kicked me slightly on the shoulder, which caused me to fidget a bit. When it punched me on the forehead, I become energized. I suddenly get woken up by tapping on my shoulder, followed by a flick on the forehead. Turns out it was Justin, sitting next to me on the plane. According to him, we've landed in Greece, and I've been asleep since we took off. It's pretty dark outside, and a bit cold. As I stand up, I notice Justin's coat over my shoulders. What is he even doing here, anyway? Does his father know where he is?

 

The hotel room was surprisingly cosy, but screw that, you just want me to go to the bar, right? I know you too well, brain. When I saw the bartender, I shook his hand as I just could not wait to get someone's liquid from a freshly squeezed exotic fruit down my throat. The thought of it, is making me desperate, I haven't even had a drink for hours. I don't know if he spoke English, so I try to signal wanting a drink, by motioning my hand from my chest, to my mouth. I think it worked since he lightly gasped, and gave me a wink. I'm asked what kind I would like, I wanted him to surprise me, he smiled and stroked my hand as he went over to the shelf. I lick my lips at the thought of finally receiving, a drink. When I woke up, I notice I'm outside of the bar area, I get up as I dust myself off, and notice there're now guards behind me. Apparently, they kicked me out for inappropriate behaviour. Fine, suit yourself... but at least I'm keeping the tip. At the room, Justin is sitting at a desk with the lamp on. It's the only source of light in here, besides the one in the bathroom. He looks quite focused on whatever he's doing, and notice he's working out something on a notepad.

Justin suddenly reaches his hand out to me, still not looking at me but at his workings, and gives me a mobile. He says the chief will ring me any moment now. What, is he some kind of psychic now, or someth-, the mobile rings to which I answer it; it's the chief. Didn't he fire me? And what does he want _me_ for? No, and apparently we're on an investigation. Something doesn't make sense here, but he later confirms that I wasn't let go from the force, he was letting me go on the mission without the force. Oh.

I try to remember the previous phone call we had, but it doesn't ring a bell, because that's not how telekinesis works. I get details from the chief, who claims Justin will probably take it from here, he might actually be right. We end the call as Justin asks me if I'm ready, he allows me to look at his notepad and there're red areas which indicate a hostile encounter, but other than that, looks pretty good. Yeah, it's just come to my mind that I have no idea what any of this means. We stand outside of the hotel looking for a taxi, my funeral is tomorrow, I should clean myself up. I'm out of cigarettes, but luckily Justin offers me one of his, I have to wait outside as Justin writes out the forms to rent the car we're in need of for this mission. I check one last time and I do have the necessary ammunition, Justin is the man of guns, I'm not allowed near them for some reason, but at least I'm allowed to help.

 

It's turning cold again, but we're too pumped up for what's awaiting us. There're clouds in the sky that resemble fractal shapes, yet in school, all I could draw were clouds shaped like smoke. We go through the plan one last time, in my head, we failed... but in my heart, we succeed. We're looking for a man named Geoffrey Knight, a dangerous criminal who came to Greece to keep a low profile. He planned a little drug deal while doing so, because he's a bit addicted to making money, he can't seem to stop breaking the law, nor fleeing the law. He only has one regular from his usual crew, so we assume he'll have some random Greek criminals with him as backup. The deal is not far from where we are, I roll down the window and throw the cigarette butt out.

I finally open my eyes, and my hearing has not yet returned. I look up to see bullets flying through the air, and Justin is not in sight. I slowly crawl around the wall and sit up against it, I can barely breathe, but at least I can. I cock the gun, as I look around... the fire is spreading wildly, the shed is almost a pile of ash. Someone comes around from the corner, but I shoot him in the chest before he notices me, he immediately falls. I look, but nobody seems to have heard that. I rifle through his pockets and take his wallet, there's a small ripped piece of paper which I also take. In the distance, a car quickly drives off at such speed, just as Justin stops in his tracks and runs over to me.

The bullet in my knee is preventing me from doing anything, Justin helps me up and we both eventually make our way back to the car, but whoever that driver was is already out of our sight. As we exit the area, I look at the wallet I took and pull out an ID card. His name was Eric Ladas, thirty-five years old. Justin reads the small paper I also took, while I try to get some rest. He says that he feels like we're one step closer to solving this mystery. Honestly, I'd rather take a nap right now... a long one... a never-ending one. Can I just sleep here, forever? I roll down the window to be greeted by the people in white, they gently take my arm and pull me up into the air. They can guide you to just about anywhere, you'll be able to see just about anything you want to from here. As I fly through the water, I feel nostalgia running through me, there're no waves, and the atmosphere is peaceful. The people in white, always insist that it's not a punishment. I turn to my left, and I open my eyes, I sit up to find a bandage wrapped around my knee, and Justin standing in the corner of the room.


	4. Chapter 4

How long was I out for? I don't know, how am I supposed to know? That's why I'm asking, you fool. It's been half an hour since we got back, Justin's been on the phone talking to his squad, since he's a commander. When he hangs up, he tells me that we can continue as soon as I'm ready, but we have no toilet paper, so he'll keep reminding me that we can use my bandages. How thoughtful. I'm allowed to return to the bar again, this time Justin is with me, so hopefully I'll be in less trouble. He orders a drink for us, speaking with the appropriate language. I still think my way is better. The previous bartender isn't here, either, instead it's another guy. Justin watches closely at the glass stunts, being flown, and caught, and whatnot. I remember him doing that a lot when he was younger, granted he wasn't good at it, nonetheless he still owes me a lot of money.

This is Justin, while he's police officer, he's primarily my son, my responsibility. I like to think he's a child prodigy, he was always smart back in school, but he just wanted a normal life - commendable. He has a sister, Erika, who is always happy when with any member of the family. Justin always looked out for her, and while he still does, it's not as often any more due to them being grown up, along with his work schedule. He's not married, so if there's anybody out there listening... y'know what I'm saying... he's taken. You'll never get him, so get on with your life. As a police officer, he's impressive, he once solved a crime on his own. Two gunshots to the chests of two people, into their hearts. The bullets were traced to three guns, with three suspects. For legal reasons, they're to be named F, L, and T.

The bullets were able to be put through the barrels of two guns, F's did not. His appeared to be dented, and they'd be unable to be fired. F, and L's guns hold five in the chamber, T's holds six. T's chamber was modified to allow one more bullet. F's magazine release was loose, L's gun was grazed, and T's trigger was also loose. While F, and L's guns have the normal sights on the front and rear, T's sights were sightly different for more precision. A local gun shop owner confirmed he had sold bullets earlier in the week, the description matched F. He noticed F walking back to the shop the next day, but when dealing with a customer, heard a commotion outside. When questioned, the customer ran outside to find someone running away, but did not see their face. F claimed someone had jumped him from behind and threatened to kill him, F's gun was stolen. Upon noticing the gun's magazine release kept sliding, he quickly abandoned the gun in the nearest pond. When found in the pond, the exterior of the barrel was exposed, thus denting the barrel when F was jumped from behind - it had been rendered useless. L quietly broke into a house, with the intention to steal a television set, along with taking the nearest gun he found from the desk. A witness saw someone through the window acting suspicious, and they hadn't seen them before. They called the police, and L later heard sirens, he had the television under his arm and the gun in his other, and later shot two random and innocent citizens in the chest. Justin was the one to apprehend him.

 

Just as I shoot one of them in the chest, one of them shoots me in the arm. Justin and I are taking cover behind the bar, a gang of three barged their way through the doors just before I detected them from the corner of my eye, they took out the guards standing outside, I grabbed Justin and dragged us both to safety. I grab the nearest knife and extract the bullet from my arm, Justin says that these are Knight's guys, probably sent to get rid of us. Justin tells me to make a Molotov cocktail, so I grab the nearest bottle of alcohol, but there's no cloth, or towels. He grabs the knife that I used and tears off part of his clothing, I grab it and push it inside the bottle. He tells me to throw it at the fluorescent light tube on the ceiling, and shoot the light as soon as the cocktail is directly below it. What if I miss? I aim my gun at it, and throw the cocktail. One of them notices it and tries to inform the other two, but Justin manages to stop him by shooting his thigh, the cocktail reaches the tube and I shoot it, the piece of clothing gets in the way of the electrical discharge and starts to flame. The Molotov cocktail drops towards the guys and Justin springs to his feet, aims, and with one shot, the gang of three in the room resemble a forest fire.

We agree that we need to leave, and try our best to make ourselves unknown. Anyone could be out to get us at this rate, we'll need to avoid using vehicles, any noise could signal attention. We each grab a full bottle from the bar, along with leftover snacks. We change our attire for possibly the last time, and begin our new, intoxicating journey. Justin takes the hat from my head and places it on his, he jokes that unlike me, he doesn't need to hide a bald spot. I remind him that when he last wore a hat like that, he lost all of his afrodisiac. And I don't joke, that it was a joke. Justin: 179, 080. Todd: 1. He looks a li'l sad, so I give him a nudge and put my arm over his shoulder, as we continue walking to... wherever. He says we're going back to where I shot Eric, to inspect the road which we probably should have done in the first place, but he says he wasn't going to leave me to die in the middle of nowhere.

I look up at the sky, and notice the clouds are starting to turn dark, that and there seems to be some fog in the distance. Luckily, we arrive at the location and Justin begins to look for tracks, I look across and poor Eric is still on the floor, in the same position as we left him, not even a coyote would be interested. I walk over to him to clearly have a chat and catch up with him, not that the latter will be any problem at all. I notice a pair of feet on the floor of the building I hid around, I slowly make my way to the building and look inside - another thing which we probably should have done in the first place. There, lying on the floor, is another dead person, but it seems this one was here way before Eric. I call Justin over as I crouch down to get a closer look, he has no ID card, only a piece of paper that's written in foreign. Justin looks at the body, and guesses that he was a hostage, the paper written in foreign must've been a warning or cry for help for anyone to find him, just in case he died. For someone who died, he certainly has the cleanest clothes for a corpse.

 

Justin crosses his arms, and rests his head on his hand, as he tries to figure it all out. He opens his eyes to lowered eyelids, as I look at him ready to listen. This guy, was a hostage to Knight and his crew, but when we arrived, they thought we had come to save him, thus he was drugged. Before the deal, he must've had a cyanide capsule under his tongue, and if he was needed to speak, he would've had no choice but to swallow the pill, to make them think he died of natural causes, either that or he could've cleverly hid the fact he had a pill under his tongue.

He was kidnapped by them to gain information out of him, Knight is money hungry and will do anything to get it, one way or another. Justin tells me to lift up his t-shirt, and to no surprise, the torture wounds. Cuts, bruises, burns, scars. Upon looking at the insides of the shirt, there are bits of tissue slightly stitched on to where blood would've stained through the shirt. Justin continues, this guy was originally working for the other people in the deal, so if he had gone to their side, it would've looked as though he was on good terms with them, and the deal becomes a success without any problems. Justin shows me the ripped piece of paper that I had collected from Eric, it has a bit of his blood on it, now dried, but it's a clue.

Something about a ransom at an undisclosed location, no address, are we at a dead-end? Justin gets up and tells me to follow him, he takes me to the skid marks still on the road left from the car. I guess we have no choice but to continue walking, but not on the road itself, to avoid being spotted easily. Every now and again, he looks over at the road, looking at how the sand is somewhat the same length as a car tire. I don't have cigarettes, but at least I still have this bottle. He laughs to himself, knowing we'll be there in no time... while that's good and all, it will eventually lead us to the wrong side of the tracks.


	5. Chapter 5

The bottle is almost empty, and we're too far for a refill. Justin had smashed his bottle earlier, and kept a shard in each of our pockets, claiming that I'll thank him later. He's still confident that we are just one footstep away. Then why wasn't I there exactly twelve steps ago? I rejacket my beige coat as the thin sand trail comes to an end. Justin gets to his knees, and starts to feel the floor, I place my hand on his shoulder to show that we've come this far, and we won't give up just yet. I suggest we either pick ourselves up and continue, or throw everything away to give up and start hitch-hiking... he looks up at me, confused, and points to ahead of us. Oh... it's, uh... the shack. Well, that was easy. We walk over to the shack, and there's nobody in sight. It all seems too easy. Justin goes to step inside, but I grab his arm causing him to stop... there's a raised panel on the floorboard, it's either a pressure plate or a trapdoor. Justin gets on the floor and starts to crawl, hopefully quiet enough to go unnoticed. He reaches the panel and it turns out to be the latter. At least that took a lot of pressure off my plate.

He removes the hook, and carefully slides the panel across. There're stairs, which seem to lead down to a basement hideout. He peaks his head through, and there're two guards who look like the ones that were sent for us at the bar. Obviously they're not, or we'd be fired for not doing the job right. One of them is sleeping on a chair, whilst the other is cleaning his assault rifle, standing at a table. Justin signals me over as he steps onto the stairs, we try our best to stealth down them. By the looks of them, they're made with cedar wood, so we'll have to be very silent, each step. I decide to stay at the top, since my coat would make the most noise each step, Justin makes his way down, taking what feels like a year. He points his gun into the back of the cleaning guy, right before he was going to turn around, I quickly step down the stairs to aim at the now awaking one. Both of them raise their hands, as I proceed to ask who they work for, and to no surprise, they won't answer.

Justin raises his gun to the guy's head, and asks the same question more aggressively. They're working for Knight. What was wrong with answering me? I ask what their names are, switching my aim to both of them, while keeping an eye out for any sudden movements. The sleepy guy looks to his crew member, my one I don't think understands English. They're Alexei and Julius, henchmen of Knight. Why are they even down here, when the hostage guy is dead? Because they're getting ready for a delivery. What does that even mean? Justin gets annoyed and has heard enough, he holds the gun with one hand, goes into his pockets and pulls out a pair of handcuffs, he says they're under arrest while beginning to cuff him. Suddenly, three more probable henchmen burst through the door behind us with their guns and rifles aimed directly in front of our faces. We didn't look behind us, something which we probably should have done in the first place. They immediately tie our hands and put a black bag over each of our heads. We get shoved up the stairs, almost losing balance a couple of times. When we make it out of the shack, I thought I had died, as one of the guys figuratively knocks my head off with the force of his gun.

 

The sound of laughter wakes me up from my unconsciousness, I look at the floor, noticing the bag is gone, but when I look... or rather, try to look, my neck doesn't move fully, as if I've pulled a muscle, or I'm in a neck brace. All I can do is use my eyes for now, as Justin looks relieved when he notices that I'm still alive. The laughter that I heard came from someone now walking over to me, upon learning of my awaken state. He greets me, for some reason politely, and calmly confirms that he's my nightmare - I must be dreaming. He says we can call him Tafos. I ask him what he wants from us, he takes a moment to think before answering. He wants a cut of the profits - what? From when the ransom arrives, he simply wants a share from what's given to Knight. Justin sarcastically chuckles at the answer, and asks if he's serious. Tafos looks over at him and sighs, before condescendingly saying that he is. Justin shouts that he never gives money away, no matter how small the amount. Tafos sighs a second time, as he walks over to him, he says he's worked with Knight before, and the money was handed over with no problems. I say it's probably counterfeit until out of nowhere, Tafos pulls out a knife from his belt and digs it into Justin's right chest, then boots him in the face, knocking him over before confirming through his teeth with frustration, that it's not counterfeit.

Tafos pulls him back up from the floor, still tied to the chair. He pulls the knife out, and wipes the blood off with my cheek. I tell him to look me in the eyes, he complies by crouching down in front of me, as I tell him that Knight is using him. He's only giving him money, so when he gains profit, Knight'll eventually backstab him. Tofas pinches the bridge of his nose while going back to a vertical stance, he stomps his foot in annoyance. He flicks the knife close to my eye, and says not to tempt him just yet, because the worst is still yet to come, and that there're a lot of instruments for us to play with, and drags Justin in his chair over to what looks like a back hook device. Tofas says depending on the answers, it'll feel like a whole weight will be lifted from his shoulders, or vice versa. The phone rings, to which is answered by someone else in the room. It's the chief, it seems the talk of a ransom probably started when I was still out cold. The sum was revealed, and Tofas begins to laugh, and shouts to the chief that it isn't good enough. He says if he scratches his back, he'll scratch Justin's, then pierces his exposed left shoulder. I can't bear to hear Justin's agony.

After a moment of whistling from Tofas, along with Justin's pain, a new sum arrangement was revealed, to more hyena laughter from Tofas. He apologizes to Justin, saying that the chief should feel ashamed of himself with that offer, claiming that he'll make him feel better, by putting his own chip on Justin's shoulder, and pierces the other shoulder. I shout at him to do that to me if he lets Justin go, but it doesn't work. Tofas gets frustrated as he puts down the hooks, he picks up a broken wooden plank and storms over to me. At the same time, the phone guy's walkie-talkie goes off, and my eyes widen at the revelation. It's said that Eric Ladas's house in Patmos was sold during an auction. As Tofas gets nearer to me with the plank in hand, he asks if this will shut me up, before smashing it over my head.

 

I open one eye, I'm on the floor, I move my hands, but they're still tied to the chair. I try to move my head, just about, and very faintly I see Geoffrey Knight walk past the door, laughing with his fellow crew. The guy who was answering the phone earlier, grabs my collar and pulls me back up with the chair. Justin is bleeding from his forehead to his neck, I don't want to know what his shoulders and back must be like. My head is in agony, and I can barely open one eye. I hear a car's engine and it drives off, it sounds vaguely familiar, like it's the one from before. I suddenly cough up blood, realizing that my ribs are hurting. The phone guy finally speaks, and says that if I manage to stay alive, I'm the one that'll clean it up - yeah, good joke, someone sure cleaned up their act. Justin still hasn't moved, nor spoken since I woke up. I'm swiftly being dragged in my chair, and my feet were already tied up.

They balance me on the chair on its front two legs, making a joke of the situation, then quickly place their boot on the back of the seat and shove me down, face-first onto the floor, colouring the floor bright red. Both of my nostrils now pouring with blood. They untie my hands from the chair, but not my hands from my back. If I didn't look immobile then, I do now. I can feel myself starting to become hoisted to be lifted upside down, until the phone suddenly rings; it's the chief again. The ransom was officially paid. He demands they send us immediately to the station, I'd much prefer a hospital, but whatever. Neither of us react, we're just stationary, as if we've become paintings, or time has frozen. Laughter echoes from outside, and it gets closer, it's obviously Tofas. He arrives as the phone guy leaves, Tofas explains the situation saying that due to a miscalculation on his part, the ransom was only accepted for one freedom. He congratulates Justin, and continues to burst into his usual crazy laughter.

While Tofas is busy fiddling about with small screwdrivers, telling us about something, Justin cuts his hands free from the rope and stands up with the glass shard in his hand. He walks over to Tofas, puts his hand over his mouth, and nonchalantly jabs him in the neck with the glass shard, he continuously does it until Tofas gradually loses the power to scream and shout and laugh. The shard is sticking in his neck, and Justin hits him one last time, embedding the shard deep into his neck with his boot. He walks over to me, and pulls out my glass shard, and lowers me down slowly while cutting me free. He walks over to a pillar and stands behind it, he looks around as the phone guy returns to the room, he notices me on the floor and begins to walk over, Justin darts around the corner and throws the glass shard directly into his eye, and slams his head with force into the wall, silencing him. He goes through his pockets and takes his gun. He runs over to me, and helps me up.

I feel completely useless, I don't even know how Justin is standing himself, let alone helping me. Upon exiting, we find out that we were taken to an abandoned garage, or what looks like three storage units, with a car in the centre one, the storage door completely open, but the last unit is shut. Justin rests me in-between dumpsters, rips off the remainder of his clothing, and begins to wipe the bleeding from my nose. Luckily, I don't think it's broken, we briefly catch our breath as Justin apologizes to me. I tell Justin to open the door of the car in the centre unit, it's still unlocked which I assume is the phone guy's fault. He opens the glove compartment, and finds a map under various objects and books. He walks back over while I get back to my feet, I remind him that he still owes me a lot of money for those broken glasses when he was a kid, however, if he promises to me that he'll still be alive after all of this is through, I'll think about turning a blind eye, and that he'll thank me later.


	6. Chapter 6

I fold the map up and slide it back into my coat pocket. My bleeding nose has thankfully ended, while Justin's forehead continues to spout, but only a little. I look at him, and tell him it's clear, we shuffle around the bricks attempting to avoid alerting those looking for us. Across the road from where we currently are, there're a few people with guns who were told we'd be around this area. We heard two vehicles pull over and, lo and behold, we find ourselves in quite a predicament. I peak my head over and hear the walkie-talkie from the car, someone was requesting to give Julius more fuel for his upcoming shipment. When he was talking, he sounded like he was having trouble breathing, as if he was cold, or maybe ill. The feeling's mutual. If I remember correctly, Julius was one of the people back at the shack before we were kidnapped, he's gone from cleaning guns, to delivering cargo - they grow up so fast. I place my hand on Erika's shoulder and tell her that everything is going to be alright, as I turn towards Justin, he says he might know where Julius is, but wants to find out for confirmation.

He picks up a rock, and notes the positions of where everyone is. From where we are, seven of Knight's guys are standing at different distances. Due to an illusion, it looks like they're standing in a row with different heights, the one third from the right looks the tallest, therefore is nearer to us. I roll two small pebbles across the floor towards him, one after the other, to attract him. It works, while we sneak around the bricks, I look to see no one is looking this way as Justin throws the rock as far as he can ahead of us. The guy looks over, and tries to walk cautiously, he walks past the bricks while I rise up, I grab with him a chokehold and drop back down with my back to the bricks, which winded me a bit. Justin aims his gun into his mouth and orders him to talk, or he'll send his brains flying, the guy simply and faintly laughs. I ask in his ear why Julius needs fuel for a delivery, while Justin searches through his pockets, he takes some money and ammunition, the reply is because he's making two rounds - two trips. Justin asks why, according to the guy, Julius is a hired carrier. I ask where he is now, he's getting ready to set sail somewhere at Voula, Profitis Ilias, then the guy laughs again, asking me if that brings back memories, causing me to let go of the grip on his throat. Justin suddenly raises his two fingers, and jabs them right in the throat, between the collar bones of the guy. Justin picks me up and takes us away from the location, while the guy scratchily writhes in pain.

I wait outside as Justin communicates with the shopkeeper inside, I look the less clean, I see Justin bringing back two sandwiches as I feel something cold drop on my hand, I look at it and it's gone, I look up to find that snow is now falling. It's also starting to get dark. When Justin sees it, he says that we need to hurry. We hear a sneeze in the distance, when he look around, it's a henchman. We quickly get out of his radar, taking a diversion. We arrive at the location, hiding behind a couple of rocks and a broken bush. Justin slowly makes his way to the port, saying that he'll take a closer look. There's a vehicle similar to the one we saw earlier, but luckily it's leaving. Pedestrians are also starting to leave the area. Just as I start to run towards Justin, he instantly shows me his hand, his palm looking right at me, signalling me to stop. With his finger to his lips, I have the right to remain silent - the irony. He gives me the OK, as I now head over to him. He cocks his gun and tells me this is where he knew Julius would be, and would you believe it, Justin points his gun to the head of Julius, who is standing next to his boat, cleaning a small box container - I can't put my finger on it, but I'm sure something like this has happened before.

 

The snow is starting to fall heavily, Justin has to keep wiping off the snow from the map. Julius says it's going to be a while until we get there, the shipment was ordered to go to 9 Muses, Agia Pelagia, but we're going to Platia Ammos. Patmos is what we used to abbreviate Platia Ammos, as it was easier to remember, it's not to be confused with the actual Patmos on a different island. It's highly unlikely that they meant Eric's house in Patmos, to be our Patmos. Justin hasn't taken his gun away from Julius since we got to Voula, Julius says that he was supposed to deliver the boxes, that I'm sitting next to, to the _suits_ at 9 Muses, he confirms that Geoffrey Knight is there waiting. Julius asks Justin why we're heading to Platia Ammos, and answers by telling him to worry more getting there in one piece, I would answer him, but I keep quiet because I have a theory that Knight is doing what I think he is to spite me. A voice is heard through a walkie-talkie, but I grab it and throw it off the boat. The moon is beginning to become more noticeable in the sky, as the strength of the falling snow increases. I ask Justin if he wants my jacket to keep him warm, but he declines saying he's fine. I offer to take turns resting but he also declines that, and claims he's fully awake for the rest of the journey. It feels like it's taking an eternity, yet it's like we're only a finger touch away.

The sound of the waves are peaceful, mixed with the fresh air. When I think of those, while watching the snow fall like a recycled animation, it brings a smile to my face. This is bliss. Julius lets it be known that Platia Ammos in now in sight, he says that we're the first people to do a successful stick-up on him, the others apparently failed because it was a trap. He then says that he's more surprised that a previous delivery came back to do a stick-up. According to Julius, this felt nostalgic, him driving a boat with me in the back, he was happy to be able to catch up with me, but was disappointed that he couldn't with the other... I stand up, and take Justin's gun, I aim it at his head and without a second thought, pull the trigger. I hand him back the gun, as I drag the body of Julius to the side of the boat and throw it over, into the sea. Without any emotion, I tell Justin that we'll be swimming the rest of the way, it won't take long, we can see the land from here. To rid of any evidence, Justin shoots down through the boat, to cause it to eventually sink. The water is freezing, but not even that will make me regret what I did, Justin to no surprise makes it to land first, he grabs my hand and drags me out of the water when I get closer.

The sensation when the wind goes through you, after being in almost frozen water. We shiver our way up the lonely road, I can see icicles forming on my jacket, Justin then stops me and tells me there're four people coming towards us, but they haven't seen us yet. One of them has a walkie-talkie, with them all having a gun or a rifle. Justin runs through the bushes, trying to look at the dank map, when he looks up, we fail to avoid being detected by the people across the path from us. We run as far as we can while being shot at, it's too difficult to aim in this damn weather, I can't even see what's in front of me within a couple of centimetres. I hear one of them shoot, and I manage to see the bullet fly past, almost hitting Justin, it was breaking through the falling snow, like a horizontal missile. Justin shoots to the right, and I hear someone fall to the ground. I notice I'm running low on ammo, it shouldn't be too hard to conserve it. We've been moving for quite some time, but obviously slowly, it almost feels like we haven't even progressed. Justin suddenly trips and I grab his arm to help him, as I shoot forward, dropping someone to the floor. We run over and I take his gun, along with the ammo, of course.

 

I tell Justin to step around the rocks, I take a look while aiming, and shoot someone in the chest. Justin as usual becomes impressive, by shooting two people in a row. The coast is clear again. We make a run for it, until I hear gunshots coming from behind us, I blindly fire hoping to at least get someone, but it didn't work, Justin swiftly turns around and a single shot sends the guy to the floor. It's taken me all of this time to finally ask him how and why he's so good at his job, his response was because he learned it by watching me. It made me chuckle, I call him a fool, but inside, it made me smile. I guess this old man did something right for once, even if he didn't do anything. When Justin takes a breather, I stop to stand beside him and ruffle his snowy hair in appreciation. We eventually climb up the hill and arrive in Patmos, I can't tell which house is what but I recognise the path layout, I memorise it easily and because of this, I instantly find the villa... belonging to Geoffrey Knight. I knew he would do this, it was expected that he'd do something like this in a rancour way. Justin says he feels like this isn't the first time he's been here, until I suddenly see someone jumping through the window, I try to protect Justin, but I start to feel light-headed as I hear a scornful laugh nearby.

We're in the back of a Jeep, being driven to somewhere unknown, probably. I'm able to look at one of the wing mirrors, there's a Jeep behind us with three people in it, and a sign saying Livadi. We're heading to somewhere near Livadi. In the Jeep that I'm in, Justin is next to me, with two people behind us, aiming guns at us, there's also the driver who's the only one in a front seat. Justin and I had the same idea, because after some time, we simultaneously drive our heads to the necks of the guys behind us like a double impacting whiplash. The driver looks over and is now fully worried, Justin then uses a sharp part of the guy's assault rifle to untie himself, he lunges at the driver, causing him to lose control of the wheel. While I try to untie myself, the driver attempts a sharp turn to throw Justin off, but fails and the Jeep suddenly swerves and slides off of a hill. The Jeep starts to tumble down, aggressively, this many bodies in this situation is completely dangerous. When it finally comes to a halt on its side, I check on Justin to find that he is still alive, I see blood falling from my forehead but it doesn't worry me. Justin gets to his knees and tries to help me out of the Jeep through the windscreen, but neither of us have enough strength. The Jeep that was behind us had already stopped, and the three people got out to get a closer look.

One of them orders the other two to take Justin away, while the other looks for survivors in the Jeep. The driver and the guy that was behind me are dead, while the one behind Justin is alive. When my vision gradually becomes clearer, it turns out that it was Alexei, his fingers twitch with blood over his mouth and arm, he calls out to someone for help and is suddenly shot dead by whoever this guy is. He grabs my arm and drags me out of the Jeep, I can hardly see through my right eye, and this snow isn't really helping either. Justin is being kicked away, making sure we're being split up this time. Whoever I'm with, he's quite energetic for someone wearing a thin-looking suit in this climate. He pushes me with his foot to some sort of abandoned area, which we were already close to, it looks like something you'd see in a western movie. He expects me to stand properly, after what I've just been through. He stands on the spot, looking at me, watching my every moment. I look around, and besides a rectangle hole in the floor, there's nothing here, at least I don't think there is, because I can't really see that well. I stand off-balance with my back turned to him, I turn my head to look from the corner of my eye, he's leaning on a tool that's sticking out of the ground. He says he's lost count on how many times he's brought a family back together for a reunion, and he's hoping this'll be the last. Marriage is an everlasting debt; it can only be paid through a lifetime. Knight is a man, who shreds that debt; it can only be paid through an eye for an eye.


	7. Chapter 7

A tooth for a tooth. I turn my head and look away, looking down at the white floor, motionless. I hear Knight going through his pockets, and takes out a gun. He doesn't aim it at me, or shoot, he throws away from us, and says he doesn't need it, because he's going to bury the hatchet. I can't speak, but when I think I do, it feels as though I can't get any word out - not even a letter. A word finally escapes my mouth, with tremble, I just simply ask him why. Nothing is heard but the cold wind around us, there is never a moment of silence. He answers that what goes around, comes around, and that karma brought me here to him. The bounty was on both of our heads as soon as Justin arrested his two apprentices. I tried everything I could, but it just couldn't be done. It was like fate delayed this opportunity deliberately, only for me to eventually get what I deserved. I hear him grab the tool he was leaning on, pulls it out of the ground, and slowly walks over to me. I don't have the energy to move my head anymore. I can't help but feel even worse than before. He firmly grasps the handle, and lifts it in the air, he says he's disappointed that he had to wait this long, but is relieved to put the bounty to rest. He pulls back on his grip, as I continue looking down at the ground in front of me. I hear a noise, but I'm not sure what it was.

Justin runs towards us, with rope slightly untied from his wrists as he shouts, the gun he holds is raised but it already went off, as I close my eyes, lying in the rectangle hole in the ground. I'm sorry. I've failed you again, Irene. I hear voices coming from the next room, there's a slight breeze coming through the window, stroking my cheeks and tips of my mustache, it's annoying so I have no choice but to open my eyes. I sit up to be greeted by the nurse who had helped me since I arrived, she confirms that I can leave when I want to today. I get up while holding my head with pain, she reminds me that I'll still have some side effects for the time being - helpful as ever. I put on my beige jacket and start to walk through the door, the nurse tells me to be more careful about not being hit by more shovels - helpful as ever. I walk past the reception as the staff wave, and I exit through the doors, while noticing that there's still dust all over me. I stand outside of the hospital looking for the train, my funeral is later, I should clean myself up. I look at the neon sign and it says that it's is about to arrive, like it usually does at nine o'clock. I look across the platform to see an advertisement for no smoking, which reminds me that I need a cigarette - it's been a long day. I find none when frisking my jacket as the train finally does eventually arrive, with snow slightly flying up from the tracks while it nears to a halt.

I sit down on a seat within an almost empty carriage, it seems to be only me, another man, and the train conductor. I unfortunately twitch when looking at him, did it look suspicious, especially with this jacket I'm wearing? I take a deep breath and try to reflect on the good ol' days, leaning against the window with my eyes closed for concentration. Justin was praised for the arrests on Knight's men, but he said I deserved the credit, he was wrong, I didn't really do anything except stakeout their hideout. We got two of them, but the others including Knight, managed to flee. Geoffrey Knight would murder anyone, and everyone for money, he murdered a girl in front of her brother just to prove a point about not screwing with him ever again. Their father had been kidnapped and held for ransom, they kept him even when the ransom was paid, and demanded more money, each time. The girl couldn't get any more money. The whereabouts of the brother is unknown. Months had passed after the arrests, we were on vacation. When I held Erika in my arm, she couldn't wait for the boat ride back to the villa, so we could go back to her mother. Justin sat at the docks, looking at the great, sunny view, with a walkie-talkie in his hand. My walkie-talkie began to crackle, it was Justin playing around, until it suddenly distorted differently after he put his one down. The voices on the other end, sounded familiar. I heard screams, normal and hyena-like laughter, while I placed my hand over Erika's ear, leaning her head on my chest to block her other ear from hearing. It was Knight laughing, someone else laughing crazily, but who was screaming? Justin shouted, that it was his mother. Irene was in trouble, she was originally at the villa, but what happened? Knight thanks someone for bringing her to him, and says to me that it's been a long time.

 

I quickly tell Justin to take Erika and make sure to never let go of her. I tell him to follow me immediately while he asks what's going on, I can't tell him as I put the walkie-talkie to my ear, Knight says I know what he wants. I know. The guy who's with Knight says I have a strict deadline to reach and a rule to abide by, because of the on-going trade that began when Knight's guys were captured. Justin and I walk to wherever my legs take me, I don't know where we're going, I can't think properly. I never asked him where he was, it escaped my mind completely. I could've done something. I ask him how much, to which Knight says the rule is triple the amount I have on me at the moment, I go through my pockets to find only a fraction, he declares the deadline is now. I don't have any way of making triple of what I have, but all he does is giggle, and the words I hear, before the trigger is pulled, to cease the screaming, to drop her to the floor... " _Good Knight, sweetheart._ " Justin keeps asking why we've stopped walking, I can't speak, but when I think I do, it feels as though I can't get any word out - not even a letter. We board the plane home, that night.

Sitting at my desk, I look down at my badge in the light of the lamp, I can sense Justin looking at me, with a concerned expression. The chief is also worried, it's obvious, I'm a nervous wreck. Chief walks up to my desk and places a pair of travel tickets in front of me, I take a glance and stare at them, for what felt like an eternity. The chief says that I'd have to win them, as we always do when the station has a random give-away. I nod in agreement, as he pats me on the back, walking away with a smile. It had almost been a month that I had returned to the station from a foolish mistake of mine. One night, I stole Justin's notepad from his locker, and looked inside to find notes, information, and research on Knight and his guys. On my computer, I tried to do what was written in the notepad, it was mostly gibberish. It eventually lead me to a fake virus free software thing, according to the notepad, it was made by an associate of Knight and a few others. I was stupid, and clueless, I put in fake details to get the software, to try and get their attention. My IP would be traced, and I'd be one step closer to returning to Greece to finally meet him once again. How wrong I was.

Standing in front of the mirror, as I finish brushing my teeth, the paste washes away as I look at myself. I look lifeless. I look like I haven't slept since I was born. I look out of the window, to see no citizens in sight, it was as if the city had been abandoned. There was nothing wrong with the weather, either. I look at one of the roads, and notice that there's a black van parked outside of a building, just before I can even start to think, I try to swiftly turn around to block an attack after knowing someone was there, but I suddenly feel dizzy, and fall to the floor. My face is bloody, my torso is bruised, my limbs are bladed. They still laugh calling me Crombles, as they continue the assault. I can't communicate with any of these people, I don't speak Mexican, what the hell do I do? The phone rings during this aversion therapy torture, and the ransom was paid. One of them says in broken English, something about money from my kid - Justin paid the ransom. One of them turns off the projector, and slams my head into the chair.

 

I look down, with no emotion, as my colleagues begin to play the game as normal. According to Bill, I was winning, but I didn't notice since the TV was too loud to pay attention or focus on what was happening. The chief turns it off, as the game carries on without any more interruptions. Justin intentionally got himself eliminated during the early rounds, as he wanted to watch. The game went on for quite a while, but it was Bill who managed to survive this long to make it to the final two, which was pretty baffling, since he has no back-story and no character development. Everyone, including Bill, made themselves lose and cheered for me, the chief places his hand on my shoulder and congratulates me. He confirms that I can finally redeem myself, but reminds me that it was never my fault. Justin helps me pack my bags, and still insists on going, I tell him it's too dangerous for him, and I want to go alone, along with the fact that he's got work at the station to take care of, he says he was granted time off then hugs me in his arms. He says he won't let anything bad happen to me, again, and that it's a promise. I decline his promise, claiming that he has to let it happen, and we talk through the night.

The train comes to a screeching stop, as I stand at the door waiting for the doors to open. The twitching seems to have stopped, which is a good thing. I give a farewell to the conductor who gives one in return, while I look to my side and smile at the other guy, he smiles back and thanks me. I'm not the one to thank. I tell him that everything will be alright from now on, and in broken English, he tells me that his sister will be grateful for my services. I simply give him a thumbs up as I walk out of the door, and it closes behind me. I begin walking along the path, to see the white dress blowing in the wind in the distance. I dust myself off as I walk up to the tombstone, standing next to Irene, who's looking up at the sky. She doesn't say anything, until I apologise for being late, causing her to tell me not to be stupid, I didn't have to come here, but I insisted that I wanted to. We turn to each other and embrace, she quietly asks if it was the right thing. It was. It always will be. Justin is too skilled to not die when he was being dragged away while I was taken by Knight, he had already killed the guys who dragged him away, he was waiting in the background for the right time to strike Knight when he was distracted.

Irene and I walk over to my grave, where there are relatives, and the people in white. I see Erika, and Justin, both looking sad with Erika crying, Justin trying to hold his in. I place my hand on Erika's shoulder and tell her that everything is going to be alright, as I turn towards Justin, he says it's all his fault, Irene tells him it's nobody's fault, but Justin still insists it's his own fault. It breaks out hearts, but we know they'll both get through it. They'll finally be able to live peacefully. I have to leave. Irene tells me that before I came to see her, she always had me on her mind, I shake my head, laughing to myself, thanking her, and ask why, with the answer " _Knowing You, Todd. Here, I Reminisce Alone._ " The people in white take my hands and lift me into the air, they glide me through the clouds, telling me that it was a success. They eventually land me next to Justin on a mountain, looking at the ocean of Kythira. I look up at the sky to see fireworks above us, exploding fractal looking shapes.

Justin turns to me, and thanks me, I ask him for what, he answers that it's for turning a blind eye for the broken glasses when he was younger, doing mixology. I laugh and say that that wasn't what I was turning a blind eye to, it was him shooting Knight, since I literally did not see it happen, thus I turned a blind eye. His own eyes widen with surprise, as I remind him that he still owes me a lot of money, he crosses his arms and pouts as I ruffle his hair. I give him a hug, as he starts to liven up again with a smile, I remind him we should probably join Erika and his mother, or they'll start worrying about us again. He agrees as we walk back to the car, Erika is happy to know we're back, while Irene welcomes us back with a smile. We get back in the car, and I close my eyes feeling tired. The fireworks can still be heard, Erika and Justin continue to watch them, as Irene wipes away my tear, whispering to me that it's okay now. She insists that it's not a punishment and that my job is complete. I wake up, to see my family, greeting me, at our villa.

 

**The end**.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental._


End file.
